"Groups Demand Data on Radiation Release"

"As the Japanese authorities order a wider evacuation area around the stricken Fukushima reactor complex to as far out as 19 miles, three health and environmental groups in the United States announced that they were seeking further information about why American officials recommended that its citizens keep at least 50 miles away.

Gregory B. Jaczko, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, recommended the 50-mile radius in congressional testimony 10 days ago. He based his opinion on information he had at the time that the water in the spent fuel pond for one of the reactors had boiled away and that a wide release of radiation was possible.

His testimony was quickly contradicted by Japanese officials, who inspected the pool using a helicopter and a worker at the site and found there was still some water in it. ...

The American groups — Friends of the Earth, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service and Physicians for Social Responsibility — said on Friday that they were filing a Freedom of Information Act request with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy. They are seeking access to all information about radiation levels gathered by American radiological monitoring equipment and helicopter overflights."

John M. Broder reports for the New York Times March 25, 2011.

SEE ALSO:

"Low-Level Radiation Found in Bay State Rainwater" (Boston Herald)

"IPhone Versus Soviet Subterfuge Make Fukushima No Chernobyl" (Washington Post/Bloomberg)

"TEPCO Did Not Pass on information About Contaminated Water" (Asahi Shimbun)

"Radiation Scare Highlights Perils of Information" (Los Angeles Times)

"UN Watchdog Mimics Japan Nuclear Lobbyists on Data" (Bloomberg)

"Japan Nuclear Plant at Fukushima: 'mistake' As Radiation Reading Is 10 Million Times the Safe Level" (Mirror)